Although a part of her resented doing a task that was for the benefit of their so called 'Queen' and her savage friend cum champion. A slightly more rational section of her mind constantly reminded her that falling into Roman hands at this time would not do her, or any of her comrades, any good whatsoever. - The time when Caesar could have been useful by removing that centaur loving bitch, Ephiny, has long passed. I have no doubts that we're all tarred with the same ... - she twirled one of the fletchings in her hand, - ... feather as she, Queen Gabrielle and the Bitch from Hades are! -

"Don't play with it, Tarelle!" snapped a watchful Malonda. "Keep working. We're gonna need all the arrows that we can put together before we get home!"

The red head scowled belligerently at the Chief Scout and returned her attention back to the work she should be concentrating on. - This is all Jerushan's fault. How the idiot ever managed to get into the Royal Guard I'll never fathom! Perhaps she's got some leverage that she hasn't told us about! - she snickered nastily, drawing enquiring looks from her clique of supporters, including the blonde Jerushan, which she quelled impartially with a fiery looking scowl.

- All the stupid woman had to do was take a message to Caesar and get back to the barracks. But no! The brainless featherhead had to hang around to be spotted by the damned pirate and even Ephiny and Eponin aren't stupid enough not to work out that they'd got a problem. - She idly stirred the glue pot as she drifted off into her train of thoughts.

"Dammit, Tarelle!" growled Malonda angrily, "do I have to tell you again. I thought you were a mature Amazon, not some fledgeling that can't do a simple job without a warrior standing over her the whole time!"

Allowing her well known fiery temper to get the better of her, the red head sprang to her feet, eyes blazing, "Back off, trail chaser," she snarled nastily, using the derogatory Amazon name for the scouts. "I was trained for higher administration and the law .. not to do mundane chores that any brainless steel swinger can do!"

"Listen you self righteous, swell headed, pen pusher! You'll do what you're damn well told to do, or I'll chain you up and stuff you in the hold for the rest of this trip ... which is where you'd be right now, if I had my way, for the stunt you tried to pull in Rome!" roared the irate Malonda in return.

"Alright ... break it up!" broke in Ephiny as she moved between the two angry Amazons. "We've got more than enough Romans to fight .. so what do my Amazons do .. they decide it's the right time to fight amongst themselves! So help me .. if it wasn't for the fact that we need everyone ... yes you included Tarelle ... I'd throw you both off the ship to cool off until the Roman's picked you up! And so help me .. if you keep this up I might just decide that's the best way to deal with it. Now act like mature, Amazon women and get on with your jobs!"

The Regent frowned in irritation as she stalked away from her working Amazons over to where Autolycus lounged at ease against the ships rail, "Trouble amongst the troops?" he asked quietly, none of his normal jocularity showing in his tone.

"I don't understand Malonda sometimes," muttered the blonde mostly to herself.

"What's troubling you, Ephiny?" questioned the roguish thief as he continued to watch the group of women that had been causing the trouble. He frowned slightly as he thought he saw the red haired centre of all current Amazon problems, hide a quick, malicious smile.

"This whole thing with Tarelle," grumbled the Regent unhappily.

"And?" urged Autolycus, perceptively realising that there was something else disturbing the commanding woman beside him.

Drawing a breath, Ephiny wondered just how well she could trust the devil-may-care thief. Coming to a decision, the blonde ran her fingers through her curls .. a sure sign of tension. She needed to talk to someone and, with Eponin unconscious in the infirmary and Gabrielle's time taken up with Xena, her choices for confident were limited. Beside, even though the King of Thieves presented an attitude of studied selfishness he had actually proven himself, on several occasions, to be a clever, astute and caring friend to Xena and Gabrielle.

"It's Malonda," she said at last, quite quietly. "She absolutely hates Xena .. she doesn't try to hide it ... but it makes me wonder just how strong her loyalty is to Gabrielle."

"Has she ever said anything about her? Been disrespectful?" asked the thief pointedly stroking his chin thoughtfully.

"Not that I've ever heard," admitted Ephiny. "But, Hades codpiece, Autolycus. I keep on thinking about Jerushan and the other disloyal guards. Someone had to have made it easy for them to get in on this trip ... and the there was that message to Caesar."

"So you think she's in with Tarelle's group?" he probed.

"Yes ... no ... I don't know! That's the problem." sighed the Regent in frustration shrugging her shoulders and raising her hands the allowing them to slap back down her sides.

Autolycus gave her a long look, his warm brown eyes filled with concern, "Ephiny, you've been under a lot of pressure out here. Having enemies in your own camp can't have helped matters. Don't let paranoia blind you to the good qualities of a loyal warrior." He could see she was about to speak, but he continued on before she could do so. "On the other hand, Malonda has been acting oddly, so it may just be that you need to keep an eye on her ... for your sake and Gabrielle's."

"Damn! I hoped I was making too much of it," sighed the blonde.

Autolycus shrugged, "It may be that you are. On the other hand, you know the old saying .. it's better to be safe than sorry."

Ephiny nodded thoughtfully. "Autolycus ...?"

"Aw, c'mon Eph! I'm a thief not a spy." he complained.

"I know ... but I would be really grateful, Autolycus. I mean it's not like you've got anything else to do while we're stuck on this ship .. and you might see something that was hidden from me," the Regent wheedled.

He tried to ignore the pleading look in her eyes. He tried to harden his heart and tell himself he was really the selfish, uncaring thief that his publicists made him out to be. But deep within the man .. not the myth of the man .. there beat a pure heart, that would always lead him to help his friends ... even while swearing he was only doing it because they forced him to. Autolycus, King of Thieves cultivated a reckless, wild and self-absorbed image .. but many were the poor people who had benefitted with a gift from his hand. As much as he liked to deny the fact, he was a good man.

"Oh ... alright!" he at last conceded. "But I'm not promising anything."

"Thank you, Autolycus. You're a ...."

He wagged a finger at her, "Ah, ah, ah! Don't say it. You'll ruin my hard fought for reputation," he admonished her. She smiled and would have turned to go, but he stopped her by asking, "You feeling okay, Eph?"

"Mmmmm?" she queried with a raised eyebrow. "I'm fine ... what makes you think I'm not?"

Oh ... nothing. It's just that I noticed you being ... um, you seemed to be having trouble with your stomach this morning. I wondered if you were alright. I thought there might be some kind of bug going around, or maybe the food was bad, because a lot of your warriors seemed to be having the same kind of trouble too," he told her, genuine concern in his eyes.

"No .. really I'm fine. I guess it was a little motion sickness. I'm okay now. Maybe it was just being back at sea. I'm usually okay once I've been on board a day or so," the Regent assured him.

The thief nodded, "Just thought I'd ask." Then he mumbled something suspiciously like, "Have to watch out for my friends." but he was gone before Ephiny could call him on it.

The Regent shook her corn gold curls and smiled. - Autolycus ... you are definitely one in a million! -

"Land ho!" cried a voice from aloft.

"Where away?" responded Nebula's clear shout.

"Dead ahead, captain," answered the lookout.

"At last!" breathed the pirate as she threw a check at the sun and calculated just how much time she had until it set. "Time for some fun," she grinned a gleam twinkling in her eyes. "Let's see just how good these sailor's of Caesar's are," she laughed without humour apparent in the sound.

As they neared the scattering of low sand banks and tall rocky islets, it became clear to Toris that to navigate this area required very detailed maps or first hand experience and it looked like Nebula had the later in vast quantities. He scanned the area with concern and hoped that the pirates confidence was well founded. He knew that they needed an edge to elude the Romans, but this was going to be a real gamble .. especially if the Roman captains knew their way through the treacherous waters before them.

A voice close to his ear nearly made him jump out of his skin, "Do you know how to swing a line?" asked Hercules, grinning at Toris' reaction.

"Gods, don't do that!" exclaimed the raven-haired man.

"Sorry ... I forgot that you don't have your sister's senses," laughed the demi-god.

"Does anyone?" answered Toris shaking his head.

"Maybe not," admitted the tawney haired hero. "So do you?"

"What?" came the confused reply.

"Know how to swing a line?"

"Ummm ... a fishing line, maybe."

"Not quite, but you'll do to help me with this job," laughed Hercules.

"What have we got to do?" the other man asked, intense blue eyes questioning as they walked the length of the main deck, climbed the forward steps to the small foredeck, where the big man bent down and picked up two coils of rope, each one marked with knots placed at regular intervals, and weighted down by a lump of lead shaped in the image of Poseidon.

"We, my friend, have been given the task of making sure that we don't run aground and hand the Romans an easy victory," answered the Son of Zeus with easy confidence.

"We have?" Toris almost squeaked. He coughed a bit and tried again in a firmer voice, "We have?"

"Well, I was given the job and just nominated you as my assistant. You've got all the qualifications for the position."

"I have," asked the innkeeper in disbelief.

"Oh yeah. You're here, you're not doing anything else and you can swing a mean fishing line," grinned Hercules.

"I never said I could do that," answered Toris defensively.

"No but Xena did," laughed the demi-god.

"But ... but ... I haven't got a clue what to do with this thing,"

Hercules smiled, "Nothing to it. All you do is cast it away in front of the ship and let the line play out .. make sure you keep hold of the end though. As the ship catches up the line, gather in any slack and then count the knots as you pull it back in. If there's no slack then there's no bottom. The line's marked off in fathoms. Here watch me make a couple of casts to see how it's done," offered the hero.

"All yours," agreed the raven-haired man.

Hercules spent perhaps a quarter candlemark demonstrating and instructing Toris on the art of using the sounding lead, before his pupil was confident enough with it to perform the task with steady efficiency. They were only picking up readings of 'no bottom', but both men knew that would change as the came closer to their current destination.

"Are you ready, Hercules?" called out Nebula from her place on the stern deck. The demi-god lifted a hand in acknowledgement that they were, "Very well, gentlemen, start singing out those depths loud and clear," came the captain's instruction.

The monotonous chant of, "By the mark, no bottom," sang by two deep voices, filled the air as a tension began to grip the fugitives.

Nebula kept an ear on the chants of Toris and Hercules, while keeping her eyes on the following biremes, trusting Iolaus with the ships helm, knowing that he had the experience to keep them from getting into too much trouble.

"By the mark, no bottom," called Hercules.

"By the mark, eight fathoms," answered Toris with his cast.

Nebula swung her attention away from the Romans who had made an effort to close the gap, belatedly realising just what the pirate was up to. Getting her bearings from the sandy cays appearing to port of them, the captain ordered "Bear up to windward, Iolaus, we need to find a rising shoal. We have a far lighter draught than those biremes, let's make use of it."

"Aye, aye, captain," agreed the blonde.

"By the mark, five," cried Toris.

"By the mark, four fathoms," came Hercules' answer.

All ears were attuned to the whizz of the line as it was swung to gain momentum and released to splash out into the sea before them. The short moments between the cast and the call seemed to have everyone holding their breaths, waiting for the report that would tell them they remained safe or were facing big trouble.

"By the mark, three fathoms," called Toris.

"By the mark, three," agreed the demi-god.

"What's the draught on 'Dancer', Nebula?" questioned Iolaus nervously.

"We're riding light, so no more than four feet, maybe just three. Those war ships back there pull six to eight feet ... I made a few enquiries while we were hanging around in Rome .. just in case .. you know?" the tall dark woman answered with a flashing smile.

"Remind me to thank you for that sometime!" he laughed.

"Don't worry .. I will," she replied wickedly.

"By the mark, two," came the chant from Hercules.

"By the mark, one fathom," answered Toris.

Keeping a firm course, the blonde hunter said as casually as he could manage, "Six feet is beginning to cut it fine, Nebula."

The pirate's answering grin reminded him of a shark, "That's the idea, Curly. This will sort the seamen from the landlubbers!"

"By the mark, one."

"Steady at one fathom," agreed Hercules.

"Keep it on this heading until we're past the sand bank on the port side, then wear her around on the starboard tack and head her out to sea," she ordered as she turned her attention once more to the following war ships.

Six were following nose to tail through the channel that she'd led them. Two had swung starboard, tracing their way along the outer edge of the dangerous area, obviously intending to find their way around and cut them off should they manage to get through the difficult channels and shoals. Two more made their way along the port side intending to head them off in that direction should the decide to cut and run for the mainland once more. The trailing two biremes split away from each other, one intending to join the starboard squadron, the other the port.

"Well at least we've split the bastards up a bit," she muttered. "Now lets see what we can do to reduce their numbers altogether."

She watched intently, along with several curious Amazons, as the first three ships eased across the six foot shelf without mishap. The fourth bireme, however, obviously had more than a six foot draught because it suddenly came to a shuddering stop as the hull grounded and wedged with a jarring impact. As the fifth ship in the procession pulled out of line to go around, there was an ominous crack followed by the high tension 'ping' of overstretched ropes, and the mainmast fell majestically across the bows of the ship that had been following, fouling it with debris. The mess became worse as the final vessel plowed into the two ahead, effectively removing three ships.

The cheering on board 'Dancer' echoed back to the pursuing Romans, who hadn't immediately realised that their comrades had a problem. Nebula allowed herself a smug smirk before she bellowed, "ALL RIGHT! KNOCK IT OFF! We can celebrate later once we're out of this mess and on our way home!"

Silence returned to the ship punctuated only by the call of the leadsmen. "By the mark, two fathoms," sang out Toris.

"By the mark, three fathoms," called back Hercules.

A check back at the pursuit told Nebula that the Romans hadn't learned their lesson yet. They still pushed on quickly, trailing her wake as they pressed her to make a mistake so that they would have the glory and the rewards for the capture of Caesar's slaves and the fugitives who had 'stolen' them.

Taking a check on the wind, and making a careful check on the progress of the two squadrons picking their way around her playground. The pirate took her bearings once again as she planned her next strategy. She wanted to finish off the three behind her as quickly as possible, because if they could shake them off they'd be able to clear this scattering of islets with a good, clear lead over the rest of the Romans. If she could manage that, she knew that the fast approaching darkness of night would allow them to steal away and set a course that their pursuers would find difficult, if not impossible to follow.

"Put him on a port tack, Iolaus, and head for that island. If we're lucky they'll realise that there should be deep water around there and they'll think to use their speed again to take us on either side, with the third ship coming up astern of us to make sure we don't pull the trick we did earlier today," she explained.

"Er .. doesn't that put us in something of a bind?" he questioned, not sure what she was trying to achieve.

"It would do if it wasn't for the fact that there's only a narrow channel through a ring of jagged rocks that lay about three feet below the surface there." The sharks smile slid back onto her face, "When the ships try to come up on the side of us, they're going to achieve nothing other than to rip out the bottom of their hulls."

Iolaus shared the grin at first before a thought crossed his mind, "What about the galley slaves?" he questioned in concern. "If those ships sink they're gonna drown."

Nebula sighed, "Some of them could die," admitted the pirate reluctantly, "but the sea's pretty calm here and with no storms to smash the ships up, they have every chance of getting taken off of there eventually. Those biremes will probably settle onto the rocks and hang there until the first decent storm comes through here." "Probably!" returned the hunter flatly.

"Nothing's ever guaranteed in life, Iolaus .. you should know that," she told him harshly.

"Knowing it and liking it, are two different things, Nebula," he told her softly.

"You're right, Curly," she agreed. "But right now I'd see them all drown if it kept me and this ship away from Caesar!" She turned away from him. "Just keep it on the heading I gave you," she snapped.

"Aye, aye, captain," he snarled in reply.

The action played out exactly as Nebula had predicted. She had guided them to the narrow channel with a sure eye and she had skilfully managed to spill some wind from the sails, slowing them down just a little and making the Romans just a little more careless as they realised their prey was within their grasp. If the captains gave thought to why the pirate suddenly seemed to be making stupid mistakes, they were soon to find out.

As 'Dancer' slipped through the opening, closely followed by a trailing bireme, the two that had been overhauling them on either side, hit the hidden rocks with crashing impact that ripped into the planking of the ships and pinned the wooden corpses on their jagged teeth. Screams could be heard from the hulks; screams of both panic and pain. But as the ships settled they lessened as the crew and slaves realised that they were in no immediate danger of being drowned.

Amazon cheers echoed through the ship once more, but they now had a pressing problem. With the Roman bireme directly behind them, it appeared that the soldiers were assembling in preparation of boarding. Nebula guessed that the bireme's captain intended to ram 'Dancer' from behind, locking bow and stern together so that the soldiers could get on board.

"Eph!" yelled the pirate, "Can you do something about that?" she asked pointing towards the ship behind them.

"No problem, captain," grinned the Regent flourishing her bow. "Amazons, fire at will!" she ordered her archers, who proceeded to pour a withering rain of arrows into the soldiers and the sailors at the wheel of the ship.

Under such a punishing assault, with officers being the prime targets of the archers, the ship was forced to back off or face destruction as the other bireme's had. As 'Dancer' began to pull away from the warship, it appeared as if the Romans had decided to go back and see if they could help out the crews of the two stranded ships.

Amazon whoops of victory followed them as Nebula gave Iolaus new instructions for his heading. Once she was sure that the blonde hunter knew what was expected of him, she turned her attention to the distant ships that were working their way around the dangerous trap that this had become for them. Everything now came down to being far enough ahead of the remaining Roman ships when they left the cays and islets behind them. It was still a race.

Hercules and Toris continued to sound the lead, although the bottom never came close to being dangerous for 'Wave Dancer', and things settled down once more as Nebula guided them through the tricky seas. After what seemed forever, they finally seemed to be reaching the outer rim of the area, but all around the two men could see the tell tale signs of changes in the colour of the water, signifying a sudden shoaling.

Eventually it became clear that the pirate was heading them in the direction of a pair of sheer rocky islets that had a narrow cleft running between them. It was obvious that this was her chosen exit out of the dangerous area, but few were confident about their chances of making it through in one piece.

"I'll take the wheel now, Curly," grinned Nebula.

"Sure thing," agreed Iolaus trying to hide his eagerness to hand the job over to someone else.

"Don't worry," she told him. "It's a tight fit, but me and 'Dancer' have travelled this way before."

He nodded his head silently, and looked up at the rocky cliffs that seemed to discourage everything except the colonies of seabirds that nested there, their raucous cries hammering the senses along with the rumbling roar of the sea as it rushed through the dark cleft between the two representations of land.

With infinite care, Nebula guided the bows of the ship into the narrow opening and held the wheel steady allowing the action of the waves to carry them forward as the wind became fitful between the steep sides of the rocky channel.

"How deep is the bottom through here," asked Iolaus nervously as the walls slipped by on either side of the vessel, in some places close enough to be able to reach out and touch.

"At the shallowest point ..." she shrugged. ".. maybe three and a half feet."

"You're kidding!" exclaimed the blonde incredulously.

The keel chose that moment to scrape across the rocks beneath them. "Nope! I'm not," assured the pirate.

Iolaus swallowed convulsively, not trusting himself to speak after that. Everyone else on the ship seemed to feel the same, because they could have heard a pin drop if anyone had been careless enough to drop one. 'Dancer's' hull scraped across hidden rocks at least three more times before collective breaths were released when the ship finally cleared the exit from the cleft and emerged onto the open sea all relatively intact.

Nebula scanned the horizon and was pleased by the absence of Roman warships, but she was happier to note that it was less than a candlemark until the sun would set, which meant barring some atrocious luck on their part, 'Wave Dancer' should be safe on it's voyage back to Greek waters. - How safe some of the passengers are going to be, - she thought with a predatory gleam in her eye as she sought out Iolaus' muscular form, - remains to be seen. -